Global experts will hold critical talks in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico on March
22-28 about rapidly evolving risks and opportunities for wheat, one of the
world’s three key staple food crops.
The meetings also will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr.
Norman Borlaug, a legendary scientist who developed high-yielding,
semi-dwarf wheat that is credited with sparking the Green Revolution and
saving over one billion people from starvation. Borlaug’s wheat varieties
were first grown in Mexico, India, Pakistan and Turkey, boosting harvests
in those countries, preventing a South Asian famine and sparking widespread
adoption of improved crop varieties and farming practices.
The high-yielding wheat varieties Borlaug developed were also resistant to
wheat-killing stem rust, which some consider the “polio of agriculture.”
However, those varieties are now vulnerable to new strains of the disease.
At the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative Technical Workshop, researchers will
report on developments and progress in the fight against resurgent wheat
rusts. At the Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security, experts will focus
on wheat’s critical role in global food security. They will also examine
Dr. Borlaug’s legacy as the father of the Green Revolution and what needs
to happen now to spark an “Evergreen Revolution.” Borlaug won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace by
increasing the food supply.
The meetings are organized by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement
Center (CIMMYT), the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) and the
Patronato for Research and Agricultural Experimentation of the State of
Sonora (PIEAES).
Among the key Borlaug Summit speakers are:
Lic. Enrique Peña Nieto, the President of Mexico (invited)
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, “Father” of the Indian Green Revolution and Chair, MS
Swaminathan Research Foundation
Sir Gordon Conway, Imperial College London
Howard G. Buffett, Chairman & CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation
Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, 2001 World Food Prize Laureate
Dr. Robert T. Fraley, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
of Monsanto and 2013 World Food Prize Laureate
Dr. Hélène Lucas, International Scientific Coordinator of the Wheat
Initiative
By 2050, the world population will exceed 9.6 billion and demand for wheat,
maize and rice is expected to increase by at least 60 percent. Farmers and
nations are challenged to feed rising populations, and wheat production and
trade epitomize the difficulties. The world’s climate is changing;
temperatures are rising in major wheat-growing areas and extreme weather
events are becoming more common; natural resources are being depleted; new
diseases are emerging; and yields are stagnating. In addition, increasing
wheat demand from more people and changing diets pressure grain markets
which can push up prices and disrupt free trade when droughts or floods
threaten crops in wheat-producing nations.
During the week, scientists will examine the latest evidence for how
climate change imperils wheat production. Wheat is a key source of calories
and protein for 4.5 billion people in more than100 countries – for more
than 1 billion of them wheat is the major food and they live on less than
US $2 per day. According to Hans-Joachim Braun, director of CIMMYT’s Global
Wheat Program, “If harvests fail in two of the world’s top wheat-producing
countries, global stocks cannot meet demand and serious unrest and turmoil
may follow in many risk-prone countries.” Noting that there are over one
billion hungry in the world, Braun stated, “Addressing global food security
challenges requires greater collaboration, more advanced research and
better systems to effectively reach wheat producers in target populations.”
There will be presentations from China and India – the top two producers
and consumers of wheat – on how their grain policies affect market
volatility. Shortfalls in just one or two key countries could rock global
markets with politically destabilizing price spikes, as happened in 2007-08
and 2011.
“Norman Borlaug championed the development and adoption of improved
varieties of wheat for smallholder farmers that were nutritionally adequate
and best adapted to future challenges,” said Ronnie Coffman, vice-chair of
the BGRI. Therefore, new insights regarding the growing importance of wheat
in Africa will be presented. BGRI, CIMMYT and Ethiopian scientists also
will talk about new insights regarding dramatic improvements in wheat
productivity among smallholder farmers in key nations in Africa, many of
which only grow a fraction of what’s possible.
Coffman also stated that “new technologies – including biotechnologies –
must be made accessible to all the world’s farmers so that nutritionally
superior seeds that are well-adapted to climate change are put into the
hands of farmers with limited resources.” A number of speakers will discuss
new technologies to increase wheat yield and production.
Moreover, another key Borlaug Summit event is the launch of the
International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP). The Partnership was initiated
by a number of public funders from across the globe, who will work together
with the private sector to form a strong public-private partnership. IWYP
will focus research to increase the genetic potential of wheat yields by 50
percent by 2035 by stimulating R&D progress and moving scientific
discoveries into market-ready products for developing and developed nations.
According to Steve Visscher, Deputy Chief Executive & Chief Operating
Officer of the United Kingdom’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council, “There are many ways we can increase wheat yield, such as
improving wheat’s photosynthetic efficiency. Wheat uses only about 1
percent of sunlight to produce biomass compared to maize’s 4 percent
efficiency and sugarcane’s 10 percent efficiency.” Wherever breakthroughs
are found they will be bred as rapidly as possible into elite, commercially
viable seed by CIMMYT or other public sector breeding programs and also by
the private sector. “Their potential will then be evaluated in relevant
environments around the world and continually developed until those capable
of achieving the desired yield gains can be released as finished varieties.”